The British Library is the custodian of thousands of manuscript treasures and it is a shared duty of its curators and conservators to care for and interpret them. Iâ€™m inviting you to share this meeting of minds and how it brings our collection to life through the rediscovery of a unique fourteenth century manuscript; Egerton MS 2516.

Once part of the library of bibliophile friar Leonardo Mansueti of Perugia (d.1480), this fragile selection of writings from Cicero and the famous African magician and philosopher Apuleius was brought to our conservation studio by curator Peter Toth for assessment and treatment advice.

Ownership note by Leonardo Mansueti in Egerton MS 2516, f. 162r.

The volume had been rebound in the nineteenth century in a style and design typical of the collection of Francis Henry Egerton. The very small script was written in iron gall ink on thin parchment to save money, and decoration was kept to a minimum. This book was destined to be a scholarly study text and it is an early and important manuscript of the works of the second-century Apuleius.

Original spine and tight opening in Egerton MS 2516.

Peter is able to read and interpret the ancient text and marginalia and to provide this crucial contextual and historical narrative. When he presented us with this book we could immediately see the problem. Its materials had aged so much that it couldnâ€™t be opened beyond forty five degrees! It was so tight that we could not see the text in the gutter. The pages were fragmented, mutilated and corroded by the chemical action typical of this ink. Like leaf skeletons they were incredibly fragile and impossible to turn.

Damaged folios and cut marks in Egerton MS 2516.

As conservators, our first sight and handling of an object can play like a movie of its life. We experience the ageing character and material signs of use and damage known so well of leather, parchment, threads and paper. Even the smells and stains, the cuts, marks and tears of a hundred scholars thumbing the pages are brought to life as we hold it in our hands. There were mysterious cuts to the tail of many folios, which suggested a purposeful extraction. Could this have been to remove mould, mistakes or secret text? Perhaps the parchment was stolen for love notes by a fifteenth century student?

The existing book boards with a gold crest and inscriptions are part of the unique provenance of this object, and yet the re-binding destroyed evidence of the manuscriptâ€™s original shape and sewing. Peter explained that its hard work as an academic â€˜set textâ€™ contributed to the patterns of deterioration we see today. We therefore tailored our treatments to preserve evidence of this damage and limit our repairs and intervention to safeguard the narrative. We created a new binding from calfskin replicating the Egerton tradition to respect this significant part of its history.

Removing sewing from Egerton MS 2516.

The old leather, glues and overcast sewing threads were painstakingly removed by parchment specialist intern Camille Thuet. Once the delicate folios had been released, medieval manuscript cataloguer Laure Miolo was able to access and identify hidden marginal notes. She found fifteenth and sixteenth century comments and a Greek quotation from Euripides which had been added by early readers of the text and reveal how it was used and interpreted.

Quotation from Euripides in the lower margin of Egerton MS 2516, f. 123v.

With the help of conservation imaging scientist Christina Duffy, Camille analysed dark stains across areas of script which were speculated to be early attempts at revealing hidden text. Multi-spectral imaging was also useful in enhancing faded marginalia.

â€¢ Enabling access and digitisation through repair of the delicate and damaged folios to ensure they continue to exist for future generations

â€¢ Preserving and protecting historical evidence so that as much of the past is accessible to the future reader.

A new guard book structure means that the original parchment text block is protected from adhesive and the necessary mechanics of the bindingâ€™s spine. This allows every part of it to be viewed, and no part to be constricted. Parchment likes to breathe!

New guard structure.

New flat opening.

New binding.

Gold finishing on Egerton MS 2516.

The books in our rich collection inspire both for the intellectual information they carry and as artefacts of craft. We were able to make complex conservation decisions to preserve this manuscript through collaboration with curators. We must together protect what our collection will represent in the future where respect for such treasured objects only grows in this changing digital age.

Thanks to Camille Thuet for her observant eye and parchment knowledge, and to Peter Toth, Andrea Clarke, and Laure Miolo for their historical expertise. The manuscript has now been restored and completely digitised and is available at the Libraryâ€™s Digitised Manuscripts site here.

We wish to appoint a Collection Care Manager to manage collection care activities on our Boston Spa site. The post-holder will be the primary collection care contact on site and will work with colleagues and stakeholders to identify and manage risks to physical collections in storage, transit and use. The post-holder will line manage the Collection Care North team who box, shrink wrap and process collection items for an external binding contract.

Working in close collaboration with the Preventive Conservation and Conservation teams in St. Pancras the post-holder will develop and manage a yearly work programme which balances the needs of the collections with changing user and business needs. The initial focus will be to review activities and further develop the team to ensure it meets the future needs of the site and collections stored there to ensure a consistent approach to collection care across both sites.

You need to have a degree in book or paper conservation or equivalent experience, recent experience managing preventive conservation/preservation activities and an understanding of digitisation processes and workflows. In addition you will have a broad knowledge of preventive and conservation treatments within library collections together with the ability to diagnose conservation problems and to develop and evaluate options for solutions. You will work with minimal supervision and have the skills and knowledge to plan and manage your work to ensure that deadlines are met. You must be able to communicate effectively with people at all levels, and be able to keep clear, detailed and accurate records of all treatments undertaken. You will have previous experience managing staff, interns or volunteers and delivering coaching or training.